Signs Of Change Not Bad News For Hinsdale

October 04, 1993|By Kathy Johns, Special to the Tribune.

In the suburban landscape of strip malls, shopping centers and decaying downtown business districts, downtown Hinsdale is a bit of an anomaly.

It still has hardware stores where the staff will patiently go over every detail of a home improvement problem until it is solved; where clothing salespeople will go through every rack and every box-even in the back-to find just the right sweater for a customer; and where grocery checkers don't need a scanner to tell them that peas are on sale for $1.09.

So a spate of "Moving" and "Going Out of Business" signs has left regular shoppers wondering whether downtown Hinsdale is going the way of many other suburban downtowns whose major features are empty storefronts.

But Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce President Michael James said he is "not in the least worried" about the rash of changes taking place in the downtown area, which radiates from 1st and Washington Streets.

"Hinsdale is such a vibrant community," he said. "There is no immediate problem with leasing space or with the amount of vacancy that is there now," he said. "It's just a churning of businesses that just happened coincidentally for a variety of reasons," he said.

One of those changes involves the venerable Patty Page of Hinsdale, which has been selling girls clothing at its shop at 18 E. 1st St. for 49 years. The store is moving across the street to 21 E. 1st St., now occupied by Betty's of Winnetka, a women's clothing chain owned by Aimen Carter of Saginaw, Mich. The chain plans to close its store not only in Hinsdale but also shops in Oak Park and Naperville.

Patty Page manager Katie Zimmerman said her store needs the space that Betty's is leaving behind.

"The opportunity was there. It was a miracle," she said. "More or less, we've outgrown the (existing) store. It's a change that has had to happen and we're ready," she said.

Zimmerman said Patty Page will open at its new location Nov. 1.

Meanwhile, the Alta Moda Salon, which has been at 25 E. 1st St. for 2 1/2 years, also plans to relocate early next year, according to Santo Albanese, who owns the salon with his wife, Stella.

"We're moving because we're expanding" and the current site is not big enough, Albanese said. The salon will relocate in Hinsdale, although arrangements for the specific site have not been finalized, he said.

Earlier, Fredricksen & Farrell Interiors Inc. moved July 31 from its store space adjacent to the salon in the 25 E. 1st St. building to make way for the newly formed Hinsdale Bank and Trust Co. The bank, which bought the building in August, is expected to open at the end of October or the beginning of November, according to bank president Dennis Jones.

Fredricksen & Farrell moved to a second-floor store at 49 1/2 S. Washington St.

"We're happy with our new surroundings," said Alicia Farrell, who co-owns the business with Betsy Fredricksen. Farrell said that other second-floor space in the building is being renovated to accommodate from three to eight more businesses in what will be called The Atrium.

Other development in the downtown area includes razing the two-story building at 45 S. Washington St. and constructing a three-story, red-brick building that will be used for retail, office and residential space. The existing two-story building, which owner Lee Wisch said is about 100 years old, had long been used for retail space, but has been vacant in recent years. The old building is unsalvageable, Wisch said.

The new building should be finished in April, Wisch said.

But not all of the changes in downtown Hinsdale have come as a result of expansion or new development.

First Street Sports Inc. went out of business in August after a two-year try at the longtime site of previous sporting goods stores.

"It just didn't work out to be what we thought the sporting goods business was going to be," owner Buzz Kaehler said. "It wasn't economical to continue," he said.

Kaehler, who also operates Kaehler Luggage Inc., at 28 E. 1st St., said he is going "to stick with the luggage business. I'm very happy in the luggage business and it's a business I know," he said.

And two businesses at 16 E. Hinsdale Ave.-The Heir & Heiress Shoppe Inc., which opened in 1975, and Olga's Boutique, which opened in 1985-will be closing soon. Olga Nelson, who owns both stores, said that competition from stores such as Nordstrom at nearby Oakbrook Center, and outlet stores have hurt her business in the last few years.

"You can't compete" with stores that can buy in volume and get earlier shipments of similar merchandise, she said. Nelson also noted the high incidence of competitors in the downtown area.

"The market in Hinsdale for clothing, especially children's (clothing), is saturated," she said, adding that as many as seven children's clothing stores have operated simultaneously within a block of each other.

Despite that, Nelson said that she will retain a portion of her business by opening a small store with infant's clothing at 16 1/2 E. Hinsdale Ave., just east of her former stores.